The Shadowland
by Sokkalovr1
Summary: In a world filled with demons, vampires, warlocks, and Shadowhunters, will Percy and Nico be able to find love, despite Percy's longevity? Rated M for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Shadow World Pt.1**_

 _Why is it always me_? Nico di Angelo wondered as he hurried along the road. _Why am I always assigned to everything? Why not Leo, or Jason? They're more than capable at doing this._ They were both more capable than he was, actually. So why him?

The cold bit through his jacket, making him shiver. No matter how many warmth runes he would use, he would always be cold. Especially in the middle of December. It was his fathers' fault, he supposed. He was always cold too, even on sweltering hot days. Nico had the benefit of actually being able to feel warmth, but only in the most embarrassing of times. It was one of the many odd and confusing things about himself. No one really understood why he was like that. Not even him or his father.

"Nico! Did they give you another assignment?" Percy Jackson ran up to him, his coat billowing out behind him. He was a local warlock that Nico liked to hang out with. Nico felt warmth creep onto his cheeks. Did he mention this happened only in the most embarrassing of times?

"Yeah. Why's it always me?" He said, turning slightly towards the young warlock. He was only 16. Nico knew that when Percy turned 18, he'd be immortal and someday, he would die and Percy would continue living. It was inevitable, but Nico couldn't help feeling something for the perky teen.

"Who knows?" Percy says shrugging. He threw an arm around Nico's shoulders. "So what's the trouble this time? Maybe I can help." Percy said, looking down at Nico with a smile. Nico's cheeks felt on fire. He wondered if Percy could ever tell he was doing this to him, or if he was completely oblivious to his own charm. Probably the latter.

"Forsaken attack on a few mundanes. Nothing too serious." Nico said, keeping his eyes on the street ahead of him.

"How far away?" Percy asks.

"Just past Sweet on America." Nico answers, knowing that he would want to go into the candy shop after the battle. Of course, it would be a little complicated, considering the fact that by the time they dragged the body of the forsaken somewhere mundanes couldn't find it, they would be covered in blood, and Nico would probably need a couple _iratzes._

"Great! Then we can-" Percy started.

"Don't get your hopes up, I don't know if we'll be able to go in. We'll be covered in blood, and Annabeth wants me back at the Institute by 8:00. It's already 6:00." Nico says, glancing up at Percy to see his reaction. He was smirking at him.

"You forget I'm a warlock. I can do many things." He says, wiggling his fingers.

"You are really determined to get into that shop aren't you?" Nico asks, narrowing his eyes at him, making him grin. He nods and removes his arm from around Nico's shoulders. Nico shivers as the warmth leaves him. Percy frowns.

"Are you cold?" Percy asks. He nods. Percy starts to shrug off his jacket, making Nico flinch.

"N-no, don't give me your jacket! You'll freeze!" Nico stutters, still watching as Percy continues to take off his jacket. Percy drapes it over Nico's shoulders. "B-but won't you be cold?" Nico asks.

"I'll manage. Besides, I'm always warm anyways. It's a warlock thing, I guess." Percy shrugged, putting his hands into his pockets. Nico pulled the jacket closer around him, letting the warmth envelope him. He slipped his arms through the sleeves. They were way too long and baggy on his slim arms.

There was a loud clunk behind them. Nico whipped around. The forsaken was there, holding a plank with a nail through it, and looking as ugly and oozy as ever. Its hair fell in greasy strings around its face. Nico slipped his hand into his jacket pocket for his Seraph blade. He whispered its name: _Aeries_. A glow appeared on the blade as it became an angel blade.

The forsaken charged at them like a bull, his weapon swinging around in his hands. Nico sidestepped and lunged out with his blade, disarming the forsaken. Percy managed to knock the monster to the ground and pin it down. The forsaken let loose an awful roar and squirmed around while Nico walked forward to deliver the final blow. Nico plunged his knife down into the creature's neck. Demon blood spewed onto both Nico and Percy, making them jump back in alarm as the creature became still.

"Well. That was easy. It almost seemed too easy." Percy says, simultaneously cleaning both of them off with magic. The blood on his jacket and face disappeared. He pointed at the dead creature and raised his finger slightly. The creature began to levitate.

"Whoa! You never told me you could do that. That would've made so many battles easier..." Nico says, watching as the forsaken floated into an alley and hid itself. _No mundanes will find it there,_ Nico thought.

"I just learned how to do that. Pretty cool, huh?" Percy says, waggling his eyebrows. Nico laughs. Percy's eyes widen in surprise. _Has he never heard me laugh?_ Nico asked himself. Percy laughs with him nervously, almost awkwardly. _This day just keeps getting weirder..._ Nico thought to himself.

They started walking towards the candy shop, Percy walking with a pep in his step. Nico rolled his eyes at his friends' enthusiasm to go to a candy shop. They walked through door and a pleasant bell rang. Nico spotted a familiar head of hair.

"Is that your _mom_? I knew there was a reason you wanted to come here." Nico says, feeling proud of himself. Percy had inherited his mothers' kind heart and sound mind, while he got his dark hair and green eyes from his demon father. He also had webbed feet, but he liked to keep those hidden. Nico only knew about it because of the time Nico fell out of a boat and Percy had to go in to get him out of the water. He'd had to take off his socks and shoes to get him. That was also the day Nico found out Percy was a warlock. For the longest time before that, he'd thought he was a just a special mundane, not the spawn of a mundane and a demon.

Percy just grinned and walked to the counter to hug his mom and peck her on the cheek.

"Hey Mrs. Jackson. How are you?" Nico asked politely, sitting down at one of the barstools. Mrs. Jackson smiled at Nico and ruffled his hair.

"I've been great sweetheart, what about you? How have you been?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

"I've been good. I mean, other than the fact that her anniversary is next week..." Everyone already know who Nico was talking about. 'Her' was Nico's older sister. She was killed by a Drevak demon when Nico was 10.

Percy walked over and hugged him from behind. The night Nico found out, it was Percy who told him. Percy was with her when it happened. He'd tried to heal her but he couldn't. Nico knew that it wasn't his fault, but he still blamed Percy for her death. He needed someone to blame, and Percy was there.

He was inconsolable for weeks. He stayed in his room and hardly ate anything. He didn't talk to anyone. He just blasted Mayday Parade and Of Mice and Men on high and screamed at anyone who came near him. Then Percy began to come to the Institute. He visited every day he could. And after a couple of weeks of hearing Percy apologize to him through the door, his voice filled with agonizing sorrow, Nico finally let him into his room.

"I'm sorry." Was the first thing that Percy said. Nico just shook his head.

"No. Don't tell me you're sorry. You've got nothing to be sorry about. I should be sorry. I blamed you when you couldn't have done anything more than what you did. I'm sorry." Nico said, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm sorry for everything. For falling overboard on that boat, practically forcing you to show me your warlock mark. I'm sorry for screaming at you when you tried to tell me about Bianca, I'm sorry, I'm _sorry-_ " Nico was cut off by Percy, who'd wrapped him into a hug. Nico began sobbing, letting all of his sorrow out into big, heaving wails that echoed through his room.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me you're sorry. Don't you dare. You have nothing to be sorry about. _Nothing_." Percy told him, rubbing his back, sending warm tingles through him.

"Why are you forgiving me so easily? You should be yelling at me, that's what I deserve." Nico said, sniffling and clutching Percy like he was a lifeline.

"You've just lost your sister. I don't want to make you feel worse." Percy said tentatively, almost as if he were afraid of upsetting Nico.

Nico just clutched him tighter. "Thank you. For everything." Nico whispered.

"You're welcome." Percy said back.

"C-can you hand me my IPod?" Nico asked. "It's on the table right behind you." Percy shifted to reach for his IPod. He handed it to Nico and he shuffled through his songs until he found the right one. Mayday Parade, Miserable At Best. Nico began to sing along with the chorus.

 _"Let's not pretend that you're alone tonight,_

 _I know he's there and,_

 _You're probably hanging out and making nice,_

 _While across the room he stares._

 _I'll bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor,_

 _And ask my girl to dance._

 _She'll say yes._

 _Because, these words are never easier,_

 _For me to say,_

 _Or her to second guess._

 _But I guess,_

 _That I can live without you but,_

 _Without you I'll be Miserable At Best."_

Percy watched Nico with fascination. Nico had a really pretty voice, but if anyone ever told him that, he wouldn't believe them. Percy listened to Nico's voice as his tone changed from sorrow to something different, something that Percy couldn't pin down. They both soon fell asleep, Percy falling asleep first, due to lack of rest and the beautiful lullaby-like sound of the 10 year-old boy's voice. When Nico woke up and realized Percy was still there, he'd jumped up and scared Percy awake. Percy had fallen out of the bed and hit his head on the bedside table.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! You just...surprised me." Nico said sheepishly. Percy just rubbed the sore spot on his head and reassured Nico he was fine.

When he walked into the kitchen for breakfast with Nico though, Piper just about skewered him with a paring knife. It took a lot of explaining to get through that. Piper welcomed him to sit down though and chose to ignore Nico's bloodshot eyes. Then a few minutes later, Percy went home...

"Hello? Nico? Are you in there?" Percy asked, waving his hand in front of Nico's face. Nico shook his head, clearing his mind of the memory. Mrs. Jackson was looking at him in concern.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just lost in thought." Nico wiped his eyes, realizing that he'd started to cry.

"You're sure?" Percy asked, scrunching his eyebrows together. "You zoned out for like 5 minutes. And you were humming. It was really weird." Percy told him. The curious glint in his eye made Nico wonder if he recognized the song.

"I'm fine." He said. "Let's get some candy, everyone's been asking for some back at the Institute." Nico grabbed a few bags of candy, one for each of the people living in the New York Institute. Cinnamon jawbreakers for Leo, Jolly Ranchers for Piper, Twizzlers for Annabeth, Skittles for Jason, and a pack of watermelon 5 gum for himself. He set it on the counter and got out his wallet. Mrs. Jackson rang it up and Nico paid.

"Be careful, both of you! And come back anytime! Nico, you're welcome to come visit at our house, too!" Mrs. Jackson called after us as we left.

"Bye mom, I love you!" Percy says, walking out the door with Nico behind him.

They walked in silence. Percy walked with his hands in his pockets and whistled tunelessly. The bag Nico carried kept bumping against his leg, and was slightly heavy.

"Hey, why don't you call Annabeth and ask if you can stay at my place tonight? We could watch movies and stuff." Percy says, stopping in front of his apartment. "My mom will be home around 10:00, but we can just order a pizza." He says, looking hungry.

"Okay. Hold this." Nico says, handing him the bag so he could get his phone out of his pocket. He dialed Annabeth's number and waited for her to answer.

 _"Hello?"_ Annabeth says.

"Hey, it's Nico." Nico replies. "Would it be okay if I stayed at Percy's for the night? He really wants me to stay over, and you know how he is." Nico says, earning an indignant "Hey!" from Percy. Nico just sticks his tongue out at him and waits for her response.

 _"Sure. You're gonna drop by to get your stuff right?"_ She asks, rummaging around in something, presumably the fridge.

"Yeah. And I got candy for you guys. You like Twizzlers, right?" He asks, scrunching his eyebrows together.

 _"Yeah. They're my favorite. How'd you know?"_ She replies.

"Uh, lucky guess." He says. "I'll be over there in 5 minutes tops. See you there, Annabeth," Nico says, hanging up. "She says I can stay."

"Yes!" Percy exclaims, pumping his fist. Nico's used to these reactions from Percy. It's just how he is. "I knew she'd let you come over."

"Yeah, but I have to go get my clothes and drop off this stuff. I told Annabeth I would." Nico says, taking back his bag and starting down the street.

"Well, at least it's only a couple of blocks away." Percy says, walking after him.

They walked for a few minutes until they got to the gate. Nico opened the gate and walked forward, Percy following close behind. Nico walked inside and got in the elevator. When he got out, he went up the hall and handed out most of the candy he bought to his housemates.

"Jason! Taste the rainbow, ya bastard!"

"Whatever. Thanks."

"Hey Piper, catch!"

"Thanks!"

"Incoming, Leo!"

"Ow! Thanks bro!"

"You're all welcome!" Nico yelled as he walked up to Annabeth's room. She hardly ever left, and when she did, it was usually just for food.

Nico knocked tentatively until he heard Annabeth tell him to come in. He told Percy to go on to his room. He nodded and went on his way.

"Hey, Annabeth. Here's your Twizzlers." Nico says, tossing them to Annabeth and waits for her response.

"Thanks. Is Percy here? I thought I heard him." Annabeth asks.

"Uh, yeah, he's here. He came to help me get my stuff." Nico says awkwardly.

"Okay. Be careful." Annabeth says, staring at her computer screen.

"Yeah." Nico says, then walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He walks to his room and opens it wearily to find Percy going through his IPod.

"Hey! Don't touch that!" Nico says, jumping at Percy and snatching his IPod away. Percy just holds his hands up in surrender.

"Touchy." He says.

"Sorry. I don't like it when people touch my IPod. Or when they go through it. It feels like they're probing through my insides." Nico says, clutching his IPod. He turns the screen on and flicks through his music until he finds something. He plays a dub step type song and sets his IPod down, turning to his dresser while Percy lays on his bed, staring up at the stars Nico put on his ceiling. He'd put them there when they first moved here, when he was about 6 or 7. All the constellations were accurate, and he took pride in it because he'd done it by himself.

"What's your favorite constellation, Nico?" Percy asks suddenly, startling Nico. He turns around to face Percy and leans against his dresser.

"Pegasus." Nico says. "I like the way it looks. Majestic and beautiful. And it also reminds me of Bianca. Pegasus was her favorite too." Nico says, dropping his eyes to the floor. His hair drops into his face, covering his eyes. _I need a haircut_ , he thinks. "What's your favorite?"

"Hercules."

"Why? Don't tell me you wanna be like him. I will personally smack you if you say that." Nico says.

"Why would you smack me?" Percy says, chuckling softly.

"Because! That would mean that you would want to be a big and strong jock instead of warlock Percy. I like you the way you are now, not some big show-offy jerk that pays more attention to his next fight than anything else."

"Wow. Okay. Well, just so you know, that's not why I like it. I just like how he was heroic, saving all the damsels in distress and such. Since I was little, I wanted to be a hero. A hero that was honest and fair, not how Hercules was. Hercules was strong, but only in the physical sense. I want to be strong emotionally, not so much physically. I have magic, I'm about as strong as they come, but warlocks have to be strong, emotionally I mean, because when everyone they love dies, it will hurt, but not so much that they'll do something drastic, like go on a rampage, or become a serial killer, or both. So, actually, I want to be the opposite, in a sense, of Hercules." Percy says, losing himself in his words.

Nico was astonished. He hadn't known that the young warlock could be so _deep_.

"O-okay. That makes sense, I suppose." Nico says, turning back around to finish packing his clothes. He stuffed a shirt and some jeans into the bag, along with some boxers, then walked into his bathroom to grab his toothbrush and deodorant.

"Really? I wasn't sure it would, considering I hadn't thought about it very much." Percy says, rolling over and propping his chin on his fist. "In my head, it didn't make much sense. But I'm glad you understood it. Cause then, when you're all old and wrinkly and I'm forever 18, you can retell it to me and remind me why I'm here." Percy says, presumably jokingly. But when Nico peeks around the corner to his bedroom, Percy's face tells the real story. The snarky retort Nico was going to say died in his throat. Instead he zipped up his duffel bag and put it on his shoulder.

"You ready to go? I'm getting kinda hungry, and the faster we get to your house, the faster we can order the pizza." Nico says, smiling a small smile.

"Yeah. I think I want to try something new though. I haven't quite got it down yet, but I think I can manage to get from here to my apartment in about two seconds." Percy says. "I want to try to make a portal, if I can remember how. I'd have to get it just right though." Percy says, his mind going about a mile a minute.

"Sure. Go for it." Nico says, grabbing his IPod from the dock and slipping it into his pocket. "I'll write a note for Annabeth so she doesn't worry." Nico says, scrambling for a piece of paper and a pen. He quickly finds each and begins to write a short note. ' _Percy made a portal. See you sometime soon, I guess. -Nico._ ' He put it on his door so Annabeth would see it immediately. While Nico was doing that, Percy had been making the portal, muttering something in a demon language. The room was suddenly filled with a greenish-blue light. Percy exclaimed in surprise.

"It worked! Ha! Yes!" Percy says, fist pumping. "I honestly didn't think that would work. Like seriously." Percy says, still jumping up and down like an 8 year-old.

"Awesome! Now let's put it to the test and pray we don't end up in China. I've been there. It wasn't pretty." Nico says, shuddering. Percy quirked an eyebrow and said nothing. He turns toward the portal and waits for Nico to position himself behind him.

"Okay, the objective is to picture my room, okay? If you can do that, and my portal isn't crap, it should work perfectly." Percy explains, as if Nico didn't already know how to use a portal.

"I know how to use a portal, ding-dong. Now go!" Nico says, gesturing towards the portal.

"Fine. On three. One...Two...Three!" Percy says, jumping forward. Nico thought of Percy's room, closing his eyes, then he too jumped through the portal. He turned over once, twice, then fell forward as gravity became dominant again. He fell onto Percy's bed, face first. Unfortunately, he landed on top of Percy, who was face up, looking wide-eyed as Percy realized the situation they were in. Nico scrambled off of Percy and lost his balance, causing him to fall and hit his head on Percy's desk.

Nico hunched over, clutching his head. No blood, but he could already feel the knot forming. The portal had disappeared as soon as it had spewed Nico out of its exit. Percy was sitting up now, red in the face and realizing Nico was hurt. He got up and walked over to Nico, a worried expression replacing the embarrassed red expression on his face.

"How much does it hurt?" Percy asks, hunching over to see Nico's face.

"Not too bad. I'll just use an _iratze_ and-" Nico started.

"No, let me. It's better and faster." Percy says, placing his hands on Nico's head.

"But an _iratze_ is perfectly fine, and I don't want to-" Percy interrupts him again.

"Cause me any trouble? You won't. I want to." Percy says, smirking.

"I was going to say waste your energy, therefore inconveniencing you." Nico says.

"Well, healing doesn't take very much energy, and it's just a small bump. It'll take no time at all." Percy says.

"Fine. But next time, I'm using an _iratze_. Got it?" Nico relents. Percy nods. He moves his hands around until he finds the slight bump. Nico feels an immediate relief, so intense he wondered if he'd had a headache or something before without knowing it. Percy removes his hands from Nico's head and Nico frowns.

"What's wrong? You look like someone just took away your IPod." Percy asks, smirking at his cleverness.

"Maybe I'll come to you more often for healing. It feels amazing." Nico says, looking up at Percy as he picks some things off the floor and puts them where they belong. Percy looks up, startled. Not unpleasantly so, from the grin on Percy's face.

"Really? I wouldn't know, considering I can't get sick and I've barely been in any battles. I would hardly ever need to be healed, so I've never felt it before." Percy says, surprising Nico.

"I've been healed so many times, I've lost count. Most of them by you. But for some reason, it only feels that good when you do it. If any other person tries, then I just get a tingling feeling and then the pain's gone. But with you, the relief is immediate and almost pleasurable. It practically washes away all my stress for the little bit of time you're healing me." Nico says, wondering if it had anything to do with his attraction to the young warlock.

"Huh." Percy says, frowning. "That's kinda weird... Don't you think so?" Percy says, turning to Nico.

"Only a little. I don't know. Maybe it's because you're young and most of the other warlocks here are about 3 times as old as I am." Nico says.

"Maybe." Percy says, but he doesn't look convinced. "Nico can I tell you something? It's uh, kinda important." Percy says, seemingly bashful all of a sudden.

"Sure, you can tell me anything." Nico says, crossing his legs as Percy sits down in front of him.

"Well, um...This may come as a shock to you but..." Percy paused as if he were contemplating telling a lie to get out of saying what he really wants to say. He bites his lip for a couple seconds, then sighs heavily. "I-I'm gay, Nico." He says, dragging his fingers through his hair. "If you are disgusted with me, go on and tell me now, I'll understand. I can take it." He clearly didn't want Nico to be upset or disgusted.

Nico was ecstatic. He had a smile on his face and was laughing softly. He silently thanked the Angel Raziel for his fortunate luck as he continued laughing, confusing and irritating Percy.

"What's so funny? Why are you laughing? I'm not joking, Nico." Percy says, making Nico laugh harder. When Nico finally collects himself, Percy looks downright miserable.

"I'm sorry, Percy. You just have no idea how happy I am right now. No idea." Nico says, confusing Percy further. Nico leans in as if he were going to tell a secret, which he was, and whispers, "I'm gay too."

Percy looks up to see if Nico's joking or not, and sees that he's not. He breaks into a grin, a huge grin that transforms his face. Then he starts laughing, laughing of pure joy. Nico joined in, if only because he was about as happy as Percy to find someone else that they could tell.

"By the Angel, you have no idea how long I've wanted to tell someone. I've wanted to tell you, but I thought you'd be disgusted with me and not want to hang out anymore." Nico says, winding down. He lays down on his back and stares at Percy's ceiling.

"I thought the same thing!" Percy says, lying next to Nico. "Let's celebrate. PIZZA!" Percy says, jumping up and grabbing his phone.

"Pizza! Oh how I've longed for you, salty, cheesy, saucy goodness!" Nico says.

"Oh how I've longed to bite into your buttery crust, waiting for the sweet release that quenches my hunger!" Percy plays along, laughing with Nico as he dials the pizza place's number.

"Ha-ha! Olives, mushrooms, and spinach on my pizza please!" Nico says cheerfully.

"Eugh. Spinach? Really? That stuff is disgusting!" Percy says, but still makes sure that Nico's pizza has what he wants on it. Percy orders himself a meat lover's pizza, filled with bacon, sausage, and hamburger meat.

"Says the guy who eats peanut butter and pickle sandwiches! That's just plain gross!" Nico retorts.

"Its sweet and sour and I like it! Don't judge!" Percy says, hanging up his phone after giving the guy his phone number and address.

"Then don't be such a hypocrite." Nico says. "I'm gonna get a shower while I wait for the food to get here. If I'm not out in 10 minutes, I probably just found a really dirty spot that I had to scrub." He thought about it for a second, running over his words as Percy busted out laughing. "Get your mind out of the gutter! Jeez!" Nico says, grabbing his clothes and stomping into the bathroom, shutting the door a bit harder than needed. He threw his clothes on the toilet and turned the shower on. He stripped his clothes off and then stepped into the warm water. He washed himself and his hair in about 5 minutes and stepped out of the shower. A couple seconds later, a light knocking came from the other side of the door.

"What, Percy?" Nico asks, sighing.

"I have to pee." Percy says.

"Can you wait?" Nico asks, scrunching up his eyebrows.

"Not really..." Percy says.

"Why didn't you go before I got in the bathroom?" Nico asks him, wrapping a towel around his waist.

"I thought I could hold it. But I can't. Please let me in." Percy whines. Nico sighs and grabs his clothes, unlocking the door. He opened the door to find Percy prancing in place. He resisted the urge to laugh, but he decided to have some fun. When Percy went to go through the open door, Nico blocked his way. Percy tried to go around, but Nico blocked him either way.

"Nicooo! Please don't do this. Please. I really have to go!" He says, prancing around like a 6 year-old.

"Ha-ha. Fine. Go. But next time, go _before_ I get into the bathroom. Okay?" Nico says, moving away from the door.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, just let me in there!" Percy says, practically running into the bathroom before shutting the door and locking it. Nico turned away from the door, shaking his head and smiling. He decides to get dressed before Percy gets out, or at least put on his boxers. He hurriedly puts them on, praying that his luck would hold out for a little longer and Percy wouldn't open the door. Thankfully, he got them on seconds before Percy opens the bathroom door, relieved of his issue. Nico hadn't gotten his shirt on but they both usually sleep shirtless anyways, so it's not a big deal, although Percy's gaze seemed to linger on Nico's exposed torso.

"What are you staring at?" Nico asks when he notices this.

Percy face turns red. "N-nothing!" He says, flopping down onto his bed. Nico's face turned a light shade of pink when he heard the lie in his crush's voice. He turned around, smiling to himself as his hopes of Percy actually liking him soared. He decided to try something.

"Hey, Percy? Now that I know you're gay and all, and you know I'm gay, I figure we can talk about some stuff." Nico says, rubbing the back of his neck. "So I have a question, and this is going to sound weird so don't judge me for asking okay?" Nico says. Percy nods. "Have you ever actually...liked a guy before? Like, like-liked?" Nico asks nervously.

Percy's face turned pale. "Uh...Y-yeah. Why?" Percy asks, his eyes flitting from one place to another.

"W-well, I think I might like someone. I need advice." Nico says, watching Percy's expression carefully. Nico's heart rate sped up drastically.

"Oh. Okay. Well, you need to know how to flirt, of course. I think you've got that down though." Percy says, his face turning slightly pink. "Um...You need to know the person well enough to know what they like and what they don't like. You also need to make sure that it's not painfully obvious, but don't make it so that the person you like has no clue. Give them a line, bit by bit. Eventually they'll figure it out, and decide whether they like you back or not." Percy explains, not meeting his gaze until after he was done talking. "Why are you smiling at me like that?" Percy asks, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"Because it's so obvious now. I can't believe I didn't see it before. I can't believe you haven't noticed, honestly." Nico says, confusing Percy. "Dude. Oh my god, you're so oblivious, it hurts. Do I need to show you?" Nico asks, leaning closer to Percy.

"W-what? I have no idea what you're talking about!" Percy stutters, staring at Nico, but not moving away.

"I know. That's why I'm showing you." Nico says, a few inches from Percy's face. He leans in, waiting for Percy to pull away but he doesn't. Their foreheads touch and Percy leans forward, brushing his lips against Nico's. Nico leans in the rest of the way, kissing him full on the mouth. His eyes flutter closed. Percy's hand tentatively goes behind Nico's head, bringing them closer together. His fingers curl into Nico's still damp hair. Percy's other hand goes around Nico's waist. Nico gasps from the warmth that courses through him and Percy takes the advantage. His tongue slips behind Nico's lips, making Nico gasp again.

Nico's hands bury themselves into Percy's hair. Their kisses become more fervent and passionate, until they have to pull away to breathe.

"Now do you know what I'm talking about?" Nico asks, out of breath.

"I'd have to be an idiot not to." Percy says, panting. He kisses Nico again, stealing his breath away.

"Have you ever been told that you are a really good kisser?" Nico asks, still out of breath.

"No..." Percy answers just as the doorbell rings. He hops up and runs to go and get the pizza they'd been waiting for. About two minutes later, he comes back up with two pizza boxes. He opens the top one and then closes it again, handing it to me. I opened it hungrily and grabbed a slice of the still hot pizza.

"Mm. Amazingness in the form of pizza." Nico says.

"You mean there's another form of amazingness?" Percy asks, scrunching his eyebrows together and cocking his head to the side.

"There are many forms of amazingness, this just happens to be one of them." Nico says, finishing his first slice and picking up another.

"Mm. Okay." Percy says and stuffs another slice into his mouth.

By the time they finish their 4th slice of pizza, it's already dark outside. Percy eats one last piece of pizza before closing the box and setting it to the side to save for later. Nico does the same.

"What movie are we watching? If you say 'Finding Nemo', I will leave." Nico says, glaring at Percy. Percy just grins.

"Well then, what movie do you want to watch?" Percy asks, crossing him arms over his chest.

"I don't know, put on Netflix and let's see." Nico says, throwing him the remote. He catches it with ease. He turns on the TV, then grabs the Xbox controller from his bedside table and turns on the Xbox. He signs into his account, SeaweedBrain1998, and flicks through the menus until he finds Netflix. "I still don't get why your name is SeaweedBrain1998. I call you Seaweed Brain once, and you go and make it your profile name. I called you that because you said something stupid!" Nico says.

"It fits though. And the 1998 is the year I was born. It's easy to remember." Percy says.

"Okay, but still. Why not make it something cool, like mine?" Nico's name was TheGhostKing128. He got the idea because Bianca had once told him that he was like the king of ghosts when he got moody.

"This _is_ cool, to me. It describes me perfectly." Percy says, smiling at Nico. Nico just rolled his eyes and grabbed the controller from Percy, flicking through the genres until he found the Horror section. Percy looked at him like he was crazy. "Why horror movies? Why not the funny kid movies?" Percy asks.

"Because. Funny kid movies are boring and predictable. Horror movies are funny, predictable, and adrenaline-inducing. See the difference?"

"Whatever you say." Percy says, slightly horrified at the thought of watching a horror movie with Nico.

"Hmm...Have you seen Nightmare on Elm Street? I think you should see it. It's about Freddy Kruger. Or would you rather watch something about Jason Voorhees?" Nico asks, flicking through the movies, knowingly trying to freak Percy out.

"Um...Which is the least gory?" Percy asks.

"Hmm...I don't know. Maybe Nightmare on Elm Street. That one's my favorite." Nico says. "Yeah, we're watching Nightmare on Elm Street." He says, clicking the movie and playing it before Percy could even try to change his mind.

"But...I don't want to watch it." Percy says.

"Too bad. It's a good movie, you'll like it. Maybe." Nico says.

"Can't we choose a different scary movie?" Percy asks. Nico thinks about it for a second.

"Fine. There's this game called Silent Hill, and they made a couple movies based off the game. It's not as gory, but it's really weird." Nico says, flicking to the first Silent Hill movie. He chooses it and presses play.

"Okay, and you're okay with this?" Percy asks.

"The graphics are awesome but the story line hardly follows the one in the game. The games are really, really detailed. Like, _really_ detailed. Most of the characters have good character development, but some are just awful. But I think you'll like it. If you want, tomorrow we can go and get the first three games from the Institute. I have them for Xbox." Nico says, watching the beginning credits.

"Sure we can do that-" Percy starts.

"Shhh! It's starting!" Nico says, watching with rapt interest. Percy pulled Nico against the wall beside him, propping pillows up behind them. Percy tentatively reached for Nico's hand. He twined his fingers with Nico's and saw his face turn a light shade of pink. Percy smiled to himself.

A woman appeared on the screen. She was blonde, with short hair and she appeared to be wearing pajamas. She was running, calling out a girl's name. She ran out into the clearing, near a cliff. At the edge of the cliff stood a girl. She couldn't have been more than 9 years old. She seemed to be teetering, about to fall over the edge. The woman ran to her and caught her just before she could fall.

The movie went on to include an awesome cop named Sibyl, and a creepy, seemingly abandoned, town called Silent Hill. The woman lost the little girl in this city. The air was filled with a smoke-like substance -Nico says its ashes-, and every now and then they could hear sirens, like sirens you would've heard during WWII that would bring another nasty horror into the woman's wake. The first weird monster-like things that showed up in the movie were these baby-like burned looking things that would chase the woman until she goes through a fence of some sort.

Eventually, this guy that Nico called 'Pyramid Head' showed up and basically tried to kill the woman. He did this multiple times during the movie, and he always had a ten-foot long sword with him, usually covered with blood. Nico explained later that this guy was trying to protect Alessa, the girl that planted the kind part of her soul into the woman's daughter, the girl that the woman lost.

All in all, in Percy's opinion, it was a weird movie, and he hated how Sibyl died, but he would gladly watch it again, at least for the graphics if nothing else. Nico asked if he wanted to watch the second movie, but Percy declined. He'd had enough Silent Hill for one night.

"Can I have a hug?" Percy asks a little while after the movie ended.

"Sure. Why?" Nico asks, frowning slightly.

"Because I'm still upset about what happened to Sibyl and I need some consolation." Percy says, holding out his arms for a hug. Nico happily obliges.

"Yeah, what happens to her is messed up, and not even close to what happens to her in the game though." Nico says.

"Well, what happens to her in the game?" Percy asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out."

"Aww, you're no fun." Percy says, pulling away from the hug.

"So I've been told." Nico says, grinning. "What do you want to do now?"

"That's my line! You are _my_ guest, not the other way around." Percy says. "But I don't know what we should do next. I don't really want to watch another movie, and I'm not really in the mood for video games..." He says, trailing off into his thoughts.

"Well, what are you in the mood for?" Nico says, meeting Percy's eyes.

Percy shrugs. "I don't know. What are _you_ in the mood for?" He asks.

"I can think of a few things." He says, walking his fingers up Percy's leg. Percy visibly swallows.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Percy asks as Nico's fingers move from his leg to his face, stroking his cheek.

"I think you know." Nico says, leaning in. Percy stays still for a second then leans in too. Their lips meet, crashing against each other. Percy pushes Nico down on the bed, straddling him. Nico tugs on his hair, trying to get him closer. By the time they pull away, Percy's shirt has been discarded and Nico's hands are placed on Percy's exposed torso. Percy touches his forehead to Nico's, panting slightly.

"You know, you're not that bad of a kisser yourself." Percy says, staring down at Nico. Nico smiles slightly.

"Thanks, I guess." He says, out of breath. Percy smiles too, then leans down and pecks Nico on the lips before rolling off of him and walking to his dresser. "What are you doing?" Nico says, his body cold without Percy there to warm it.

"I need a shower." Percy says, waving his sleep clothes-just a pair of boxers-at Nico.

"Okay. Don't take forever like you did last time. I was so bored!" Nico says.

"Well, if I do end up taking forever again, help yourself to the Xbox. I just downloaded this game called Portal, I think you'll like it." Percy says, stepping into the bathroom. He shuts the door, locks it, then Nico can hear the sound of the shower. He decides to try the game Percy suggested.

When the game starts, he's in a room with windows. There's a lady talking, but Nico doesn't pay much attention to her until she says that the 'simulation will start in 3...2...1...' And then a blue portal appears. Nico walks through it, and ends up in a different area. He can see the outside of the room he's in, and realizes that the portal wasn't just a hole in the wall.

He walks along, then sees another portal. He walks through it, finding himself in yet another new place. He decides to just go with it.

Throughout the game, he goes through many different portals, dying many times when the portal changes and drops him into toxin. By the time Percy comes out of the bathroom, Nico has gone through about 5 different simulations, died about 30 different times, and gotten seriously annoyed by the lady who keeps talking over the intercom.

"This game. It's so freaking addicting, but so freaking annoying. It's like a totally different and way more complicated version of flappy bird!" Nico says.

"Ha. You feel my pain. I've already beat the game once. I hate Glad0s. She's evil." Percy says, flopping down next to Nico.

"Glad0s?" Nico asks.

"The lady on the intercom. She's awful." Percy explains.

"You said she was evil. How is she evil? She's just a voice!" Nico says, dying once again.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Percy says, using Nico's words against him.

"You jerk." Nico says, shoving Percy lightly.

"Hey! No spoilers. You find out when you find out. And believe me, you'll know." Percy says, nodding eagerly.

"No, I won't, not if I can't get past this freaking simulation!" Nico says, dying for what seems like the hundredth time. Percy crawls behind Nico and puts his hands on the controller.

"You're doing it wrong. You're supposed to shoot a portal there, not down there. Then you jump through that portal, like this. And you do that again. There." Percy says, guiding him through the simulation easily.

"Well, now I feel stupid. That's so easy!" Nico says, walking through the next simulation easily.

"Nah, it took me about ten minutes to figure out how to do that one." Percy says. "Even when I did figure it out, it still took me a while to get through it. Put on subtitles, when you meet the turrets; the things they say are funny, but you can't really hear them." Nico pauses the game and puts on the subtitles.

When they finally get to the turrets, Nico immediately has to jump behind something so that they don't go off. Percy tells me how to deploy them without getting himself shot, and when he picks the turret up, it says something like "Put me down" or "I'm different" amongst other things that make Nico and Percy laugh. By this time, Glad0s had made it clear that she doesn't like his character, Chell, and is trying to kill her.

At the end of the game, Nico has to destroy three cores, each one a different emotion of some sort. Once he destroys them however, Glad0s 'dies' supposedly. And then his character walks outside and finds the world basically in shatters, filled with junk and such. Then something falls out of the sky and everything goes black.

"Okay, this song will make you laugh, I swear." Percy says, turning the volume up. The song starts, singing in Glad0s' voice. She keeps saying and implying that she's alive, which shouldn't be possible. And through it all, she keeps repeating, "And I'll still be alive." All in all, it was funny, yet odd, but it made Nico laugh, just as Percy said it would.

"How is she still alive? The facility basically collapsed! This is gonna give me a headache just thinking about how she survived." Nico says, burying his head in his hands while Percy chuckles.

"Oh, wouldn't we all like to know." He says, hugging Nico from behind. Nico can feel his body heat warming him to his very core.

"Why do these games have to be so complicated?" Nico asks.

"Why do you have to ask me questions that I don't have the answer to?"

"Because I can."

"What if I don't want you to?"

"Too bad."

"Darn." Percy says, nuzzling Nico's neck. Nico shivers with delight.

"Jackson, what are you trying to do to me?" Nico asks, tilting his head up.

"I'm _trying_ to seduce you. Is it working?" Percy asks.

"Maybe." Nico replies softly.

"Great, 'cause I have no idea what I'm doing." Percy says, chuckling against Nico's throat, sending hot shivers down his chest.

"God. You sure you don't know what you're doing? It feels like you know what you're doing." Nico says, then letting his mouth fall open when Percy starts suckling his neck.

"Mhmm." Is all Percy says before he removes his lips from Nico's neck and moves them to his lips, kissing him softly. Nico moans quietly, then pushes Percy back so that he's laying on the bed. Nico straddles him, putting his hands on either side of Percy. Percy places his hands on Nico's hips, just above the waist band of his boxers. His thumbs stroke Nico's stomach, enjoying the softness of his skin. Nico sighs, then pulls away, resting his forehead against Percy's.

"You really have no idea what affect you have on me. No clue." Nico pants.

"And you have no idea what affect you have on me." Percy says, also out of breath. Then he rolls over, putting Nico under him. "But I can show you." He whispers in Nico's ear, sending shivers down his spine. Percy begins kissing his neck, moving down to his collarbone, then going back up, sucking at various places. Nico's eyes flutter closed as he moans, his mouth falling open. He feels Percy's smirk against his throat. His hands roam from Percy's back to his now dry hair. He buries his hands in his hair, then pulls Percy's mouth up to his own. Percy moans softly, his hands still on Nico's hips.

Nico moves his hands to Percy's back, tracing his spine and shoulder blades. Percy shivers involuntarily. He pulls away, panting.

"This is gonna sound so weird but... Can I keep you?" Percy says, watching Nico's expression. Nico grins.

"Copying Casper, huh? Of course you can keep me." Nico says. Percy lays his head on Nico's shoulder.

"I'm so happy. Are you happy? I'm happy." Percy mumbles.

"Of course I'm happy. Why wouldn't I be happy?" Nico asks, stroking Percy's hair.

"I don't know. But I'm happy." Percy says, yawning.

"Yeah? Well I'm tired. Goodnight, Percy." Nico says, also yawning.

"Goodnight, Nico. No nightmares, okay?" Percy says.

"I sure hope so." Nico says, then leans down and kisses Percy's forehead. Eventually they both fall asleep, just like that.


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Shadow Land Pt.2**_

"Percy. Get up. Get _up_. My legs fell asleep, and it is so uncomfortable." Nico whines, trying to get Percy to wake up. "Percyy..." Nico nudges Percy repeatedly until he just gives up and shoves him off, effectively waking him up.

"What'd you do that for?" Percy slurs sleepily.

"You wouldn't get up and you were cutting off the blood circulation to my legs." Nico explains. Percy looks at him for a couple seconds then shrugs, stretching and yawning. Nico copies him and then sits up. Percy lays his head in Nico's lap, looking up at him sleepily.

"You know, you're cute when you sleep." Nico tells him. Percy grins lopsidedly.

"Thanks. I wouldn't know how you look when you sleep because I never get up before you." Percy says, still smiling. Nico begins to stroke Percy's hair, playing with the cute curls that formed while he slept. Percy's eyes closed, and for a second, Nico thought he'd gone back to sleep. Then his eyes opened and he smiled again at Nico.

"Why do you keep smiling at me like that?" Nico asks, still twirling his hair around his fingers.

"Because you're beautiful, and I like looking at beautiful things." Percy says, smiling softly.

"Oh, don't you go all Augustus Waters on me. I'm still ticked off that he died." Nico says.

"But I'm not gonna die. I can't die unless someone kills me. And the chances of that happening are very low. I mean, look at Magnus Bane, he's still alive." Percy points out.

"Still." Nico says. "I'm upset that the most amazing fictional character has died and gone to join the rest of my favorite characters in the character graveyard."

"That's deep." Percy says.

"So was his grave."

"Now that's funny." Percy says, chuckling. He gets up and tries to give Nico a kiss, but Nico covers his mouth.

"You have morning breath. Go fix it." He says, then uncovers his mouth so he can go brush his teeth. He does.

"Now can I have a kiss?" Percy asks.

"Nope. I gotta fix my own morning breath first." He says, walking to his bag to get his toothbrush. Percy's face falls. Nico smirks.

"But..." Percy starts, but he doesn't finish. Nico walks into the bathroom and brushes his teeth, unaware that Percy was waiting outside the door. When Nico opens the door, he's immediately pushed against the wall. His arms are pinned above his head and his mouth is attacked by Percy, making his knees go weak. One of Percy's legs is between Nico's, adding to Nico's suspicion that maybe he does know what he's doing, and loves that he's doing it.

When Percy pulls away, they're both breathless. "What in Raziel's name was that?" Nico asks, leaning his head against the wall.

"That was a good morning kiss. Good morning." Percy says and kisses the tip of Nico's nose. Nico narrows his eyes. Percy smirks.

"That is one helluva good morning kiss. Are you going to do that every morning I come over?" Nico asks, attempting to get his arms unpinned. No such luck. They stayed in place and Percy's grip on them tightened.

"Maybe. Why? Do you not like it?" Percy asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I never said that." Nico says, watching as Percy leans closer.

"Good." Percy says, then catches Nico's lips again in a breath-taking passionate kiss. During this, he lets go of Nico's wrists. Nico's arms immediately go around Percy's neck, pulling him closer. Percy's hands land once again on Nico's hips. Nico moans, letting Percy's tongue poke against his own. Percy rolls his hips into Nico's, experimenting. Nico arches his back and moans, pleasantly surprised.

"What are you trying to do to me?" Nico asks, between kisses.

"I have no idea." Percy says, being truthful. The kisses become more fevered, both kissing and sucking at various intervals. At one point, Nico bit Percy's bottom lip softly, almost sending Percy over the edge. He moaned loudly, then kissed him harder, trying to keep himself under control. Nico's hands roamed from Percy's neck to his chest, rubbing and stroking at different places.

At some point, Percy had started walking, taking Nico with him. He soon trips over the edge of the bed, falling backwards and then rolling over, surprising Nico.

"You're trying to kill me aren't you?" Nico asks breathlessly between kisses. Percy doesn't answer, just moves to his neck, kissing and suckling at various places. "God." Nico says, his eyes closed. Percy nips at his ear, making him gasp with surprised delight. "By the Angel, Percy. _Gahaaa_..." Nico moans as Percy moves down his neck once again, biting him softly. _Whatever I did to deserve this, I'll do it again repeatedly_ , He says to himself. Percy pulls away and rolls off of Nico, relieving him of his weight.

"You are freaking amazing. I mean...God. Where did you learn to _do_ that?" Nico asks, panting.

"It's a natural talent." Percy says, grinning.

"I'll say. That's one awesome talent." Nico says, looking over at Percy. "But I don't want to go any further than just kissing, okay? Not yet." Nico says, making sure Percy understands his meaning.

"Oh. Yeah, of course. I know that." Percy says, his smile falling away.

"Then why do you look so upset?" Nico asks, frowning.

"Because, even though I know that you're not ready for that, it's slightly upsetting that I'm not allowed to do anything more than kiss you. I mean, there are other things that we could do..." Percy trails off, his face turning pink.

"Like?" Nico asks, truly curious as to what he'll say.

"Um. I don't want to say any. It was stupid to even bring it up. I'm sorry." Percy says, his face turning a darker shade of pink.

"It's okay." Nico says, wondering what he was going to say, and if he could probably guess. Probably.

"So, um, food. Breakfast. Downstairs." Percy says gesturing towards his door. "We have eggs and bacon..."

"Eggs are not just a breakfast food! Everyone assumes that they are a breakfast food, when they can be any type of food." Nico says, scolding Percy for his unknowingness.

"Sorry. I forgot about your thing with eggs." Percy says, rolling his eyes at Nico.

"Yeah, yeah. I am hungry though. Downstairs it is." Nico says, getting up and walking to the door. He opens it and walks down the stairs, then pauses waiting for Percy. By the time they get downstairs, Percy's mom is moving around the kitchen, making pancakes and toast.

"Morning, Mrs. Jackson. Where's Paul?" Nico asks, sitting at the table in the dining room.

"He had to go run some errands, dear. Do you want blueberries or strawberries in your pancakes?" She asks.

Nico thinks about it. "Blueberries." He says. Percy walks up behind his mom and hugs her. Then he comes and sits down next to Nico, smiling at him. Nico realizes something. "Percy?" He whispers.

"Hmm?" He says quietly.

"Does your mom know? About your sexual orientation?" Nico whispers quietly. Percy nods. Nico breathes a sigh of relief.

"So what are you two doing up so early? And what was that thud I heard earlier?" Mrs. Jackson asks, making both Nico's and Percy's faces turn slightly pink.

"Percy rolled over onto me and made my legs fall asleep, so I shoved him off and he woke up. And when I got up to go to the bathroom, I tripped over myself and fell." Nico improvised.

"Oh. Okay." Mrs. Jackson didn't look convinced. Percy looks at me, raising an eyebrow. Nico mouths to him, 'I panicked. Sue me.' Percy smirks. "Here you go, Nico. Blueberry pancakes and two slices of bacon." Mrs. Jackson says, sliding his plate in front of him. A couple minutes later, Percy got his own breakfast, blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and two slices of bacon. Nico glares at the eggs on his plate.

"I like scrambled eggs. Sue me." Percy says, noticing.

"I do too, I just don't understand why it _has_ to be a breakfast food." Nico starts. "I mean, really. If you have eggs for dinner, its breakfast for dinner. If you have eggs with lunch, it's brunch. Why? I just don't get it." Nico says, stuffing some pancake into his mouth. Percy watches with mock interest, balancing his chin on his fist.

"Are you done? Can I eat my eggs in peace now?" Percy asks, gesturing towards his plate.

"Fine." Nico relents, letting Percy eat his eggs. They finish their breakfast and go sit on the couch, Nico sitting at the armrest and Percy right next to him. They wait until Mrs. Jackson sits down and finishes eating before they speak.

"So, ahem, Mrs. Jackson. We have something to tell you." Nico says, fidgeting with the edge of his boxers.

"What is it sweetheart? You look so nervous." Mrs. Jackson says, looking concerned.

"W-well, uh..." Nico starts, then looks at Percy, who looks just as nervous.

"We're dating now." Percy says sheepishly, linking his pinkie with Nico's. "I know you're probably not expecting it but...Yeah." Percy says, blushing.

There's a long pause.

"Honey, I wasn't just expecting it. I was practically willing it to happen. You only looked happy when he was around, and he was happy when you were around him. I knew this would happen eventually and I'm so happy it finally did." Mrs. Jackson says, surprising both of them.

"So wait. You knew the entire time. That we liked each other. And you didn't _say_ anything? Mom!" Percy says, exasperated.

"It wasn't my place to say anything! I wanted it to happen in its own time." His mom says, putting her hands up in surrender.

"She's right Percy." Nico says. "I like the way it happened. Imagine if we'd been together all this time. We'd probably end up getting bored with each other." Nico says, earning a smile from Mrs. Jackson.

"You see? He's happy." Mrs. Jackson says, gesturing to Nico.

"Whoa, wait. If we would have gotten bored with each other before, why wouldn't it happen later? Like in a few years?" Percy asks, raising a fair point.

"Um. Percy. Think of what could happen in a few years though. Or in a few months even. You remember that thing we talked about earlier...?" Nico asks, trying to get Percy to remember. "As in about 20 minutes ago?"

Realization and color register on Percy's face. "Oh. Ohh. That's why...Oh geez." Percy's face steadily turns darker. Nico laughs.

"It's sad when your 16 year old boyfriend knows less about life than you do, a 15 year old. Almost 16, but hey. Give it a couple more weeks." Nico says, shrugging and grinning.

"Yeah, well. He doesn't go to school, so we teach him everything we know. Paul's pretty much his teacher, seeing as he used to teach history." Mrs. Jackson says, shrugging.

"And you didn't think to get Paul to explain everything to him?" Nico asks teasingly.

"Paul did! Apparently he didn't do it well enough though..." Mrs. Jackson says, looking over at Percy, whose face is still red.

"I can hear you, you know." Percy squeaks.

"We know." Nico chuckles, holding Percy's hand.

"Then why do you keep talking?" He asks.

"Because you're adorable when your face is red." Nico says, adding yet another layer of color to Percy's face. Percy's mom chuckles.

"You two are so cute together." She says, shaking her head and smiling. Nico's face turns pink and looks down at their intertwined hands. He smiles to himself.

He looks up to find Percy staring at him. Not a creepy stare, just a loving one. Nico smiles at Percy, showing off his dimples.

"You have no idea how lucky I am to have you two." Mrs. Jackson says.

"Yeah we do. We have each other, and that in itself is enough to make us happy for years." Nico says, never looking away from Percy.

"I suppose so." She says. She watches them for a little while longer then gets up and mumbles something about doing some laundry. Nico ignored her, too busy trying to discern the different shades of green in Percy's eyes. Gray green, dark green, bright green...So much _green_.

"You know, I think green might just become my favorite color." Nico says, still looking at Percy's eyes.

"And why's that?"

"Because it's the color of your eyes."

"That's adorable."

"And why's that?"

"Because. It just is." Percy says, smiling lopsidedly. Nico smiles back, then leans in and pecks him on the lips. Percy leans forward and tries to catch his lips again but Nico leans out of reach.

"Nope. You'll get more later, I promise. But we need to figure out what we're gonna do today. Besides figure out how to tell everyone we're dating. And that I'm gay. Jason's the only one who knows." Nico says.

"Why only Jason?" Percy frowns.

"Because. I had a run in with a faery with Jason, and the faery said it on purpose. He also knows I like you. He's been trying to get me to go for it ever since he found out. It was getting quite annoying actually." Nico explains.

"When did this happen?" Percy asks.

"A couple months ago."

"Crud."

"Why'd you say that?"

"Because I think he might've tried to tell me, and I didn't believe him."

"What?!" Nico exclaims, jumping up.

"Yeah..." Percy says, rubbing the back of his neck. He thought about the night that it happened.

Percy had been on his way out of the Institute after Nico and himself had had a falling-out. He was angry and upset, and he felt sick. He wanted out of there as fast as possible. Percy had walked in on Nico with a blade to his wrist, with blood dripping down his arm.

"Hey. Hey, what's wrong? Did you guys have a fight or something?" Jason Grace stopped him before he could reach the elevator. Percy turned away from him and tried to keep himself from lashing out.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." He said, trying to assure himself rather than Jason.

"Are you sure? You look...Upset." Jason said, worried.

"I'm fine. I just want to go home." Percy said, trying to keep the tears from falling until he was outside.

"Oh. I'll walk you home then. You look like you're gonna be sick, and I want to make sure you get home safe." Jason said, walking Percy to the elevator then pressing the button.

"No, no that's fine, I can walk myself home." Percy said, trying to get out of it, hopelessly.

"It would give me peace of mind to walk you home." Jason said.

"Well...Okay. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have someone walk me home." Percy relented.

"Awesome. If the stupid elevator would just come up. Damn thing jams all the time." Jason said, jamming his thumb into the button. When the elevator finally did come up, they both stepped in and listened to it creak. They got to ground floor and exited the elevator, then walked out of the Institute. When they got to the gate, Jason unlocked it then relocked it when they exited it and they continued walking. No one said anything for a while. Then Jason spoke.

"I know it may seem sometimes that Nico hates you, but he doesn't." Jason says.

"I know."

"And I know that sometimes he can be a little intense and hurtful, but half the time he doesn't mean it."

"I know."

"In fact, he actually has a certain fondness for you. As in, a lot of that certain fondness."

"No, he doesn't. Nico's not gay." Percy said, staring at the ground.

"You might be surprised-" Jason started.

"No! Nico's not gay, and even if he was, why would he like me? I'm a warlock for heaven's sake! I'll only make his life worse than it already is. It would've been better if I never bumped into him in the first place." Percy exclaimed.

"Dude, calm down. You don't want to anger anyone, or anything down here. We could get killed." Jason said.

"Yeah, and then I'll be the cause of another death. Great." Percy said, calmer.

"This is your place, right?" Jason asked after a long pause.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Well, um, bye."

"Bye."

And Percy walked up to his door and walked in, leaving him on the street.

"Percy? Hello? I need an explanation! Please?" Nico says, waving his hand in front of Percy's face.

"Oh. Sorry." Percy says, shaking his head. "Well, he said you had a certain fondness for me. And that it was a lot of a certain fondness."

"Oh. Well, that's not too obvious, I guess." Nico says, turning pink. "What did you say back?"

"Oh. Um. Is it okay if I don't tell you, or are you gonna make me, because I don't feel comfortable saying it." Percy says, not meeting Nico's gaze.

"Fine. At least tell me what day it was." Nico says.

"Um. Our last big fight." Percy says, knowing Nico would get it.

"Oh." Is all he says. He won't meet Percy's gaze and his hand subconsciously goes to his arm.

"Yeah." Percy says. He puts an arm around Nico's shoulders. "Hey, it's okay. That was months ago, and what matters is that you haven't done it since. Right?" He says, looking down at Nico.

"Of course not! I wouldn't have any reason to." Nico says, cheeks flaming.

"I see. Maybe I should come over to the Institute more often. It might make things better. I could even help you train, or attend classes with you. It could be fun." Percy suggested, actually thinking about what it would be like to be in Nico's classes at the Institute.

"You would do that? For me?" Nico asks, looking up at Percy gratefully.

"Of course. I would do anything for you." Percy says truthfully.

"Don't say that, please." Nico says.

"Why not? It's true." Percy says, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Just don't say it. Please?" Nico begs.

"Umm, okay. I won't say it."

"But about that other thing. You're serious? Like, you would actually want to do that?" Nico asks, raising his eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. I mean, it could be fun, like I said. Besides, we'll get to spend more time with each other, won't we? And that's always a good thing." Percy says, grinning.

"Yeah. I think I'd like having you in my classes. It would be fun. We should do that. Yup, no backing out now, we're doing it, totally. But don't come crying to me when you can't take it anymore. These classes are kind of hard." Nico says, thinking clearer now.

"Well, it sure beats Paul and Mom. Paul was a history teacher, not a math or science teacher." Percy says, rousing a laugh out of Nico.

"Yeah. But I mean there's demonology, botany, knife-throwing, sword-fighting... So much. Then there's also history of Shadowhunters, which I could recite from the book word for word with my hands tied behind my back and a blindfold. Like, seriously, there's not much to Shadowhunters." Nico explains.

"Hmm...I think I might enjoy sword-fighting. That could be fun." Percy says.

"Yeah, I love it. I'm like second best in the class. Jason's first, that guy can destroy a dummy in 2 seconds flat. Piper's okay, but she needs to work on her parries, and then Leo... don't even get me started on him. He's awful! He can't even hold the sword right. He's a lot better if you give him a hammer, which is, in fact, what he fights demons with. He prefers to be with machines than, and I quote, "You organic life-forms." He's so weird, I'm wondering if it's just a machine in his head instead of an actual brain." Nico says, enjoying talking about his housemates.

"What about Annabeth?" Percy asks, noticing he didn't mention her once.

"Oh. Her. She's okay, not as bad as Leo, but not as good as Piper. She prefers to fight with a knife she's had since she was 7. I'm assuming it was a gift from someone she cared about or something. I don't know, I'm too scared to ask." Nico says with some bitterness in his voice.

"You don't like her." Percy realizes.

"No kidding. She's never really liked me either. Everyone else, it's 'Oh, how are you? I love your shirt, where'd you get it?' Then with me, she just like 'Oh, I forgot you lived here, now go away.' It's awful. But I still notice the small things, like that she likes Twizzlers and her favorite color is red. And she hates celery. She told me that explicitly once." Nico says, scrunching his eyebrows up in the cute way Percy loves.

"That's nice. How are you with the other people? Are they like that to you?" Percy asks, leaning against the arm of the couch.

"No. Leo's scared of me though. I have no idea why. Piper's nice enough, Jason seems to have taken a liking to me, not a gay one, mind you, but yeah. Annabeth just doesn't like me, I never really thought about why."

"Ah. Well, about Leo, I might have something to do with that."

"What did you do?" Nico asks, narrowing his eyes.

"Ha ha. Well, I might've told him if he didn't stop bugging you all the time, you'd run him through with that black sword you've got. What kind of metal did you say it was made of? Stitched Iron?"

"Stygian Iron. And that was awful of you! Why would you do that?" Nico says, trying to be serious, but ends up laughing anyways.

"Because! You kept complaining that he wouldn't quit bugging you, so I did you a favor." Percy says, putting his hands behind his head.

"Well, he did leave me alone after that, leaving me pleasantly surprised." Nico says, looking up at Percy. "But please don't do that again. Now I have to fix it, so that he'll still leave me alone, but he won't be as scared of me."

"I could help."

"No. Stay away from Leo. You hear me? Stay. Away."

"What? But I won't do anything-"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I said so, and what I say goes."

"Fair point."

"Yup." Nico says, nodding. He feels a slight draft and realizes it's almost noon and he still only has his boxers on. "I'm gonna get some clothes on. I'm getting cold."

"You have clothes on, and I can keep you warm." Percy says, suddenly wanting to cuddle.

"These are just boxers, and you need to get some clothes on too."

"But I don't want to."

"And I do."

"But I don't _want_ to." Percy says, whining like a small child not wanting to get a bath.

"But you need to." Nico says, pulling on Percy's arm. Percy pulls back and Nico slips and falls onto Percy.

"Crud. Help me up, please." Nico says, attempting to get up but failing.

"Oh, no. You're not getting away that easy." Percy says, hugging Nico to him.

"You think this is easy? You're crazy!"

"The craziest."

"Percyy! Let go! You don't have to put clothes on, just let go so that _I_ can! _Percyyy_!" Nico squeals, still trying to get out of Percy grasp.

"No way! You're mine! All mine!" Percy says, delighting in the fact that he has rendered Nico helpless.

"Ugh! Fine! Just, let me get into a more comfortable position, please." Nico says, surrendering.

"So you finally see it my way, huh?" Percy asks, loosening his grip enough so that Nico can sit comfortably in Percy's lap. Nico settles comfortably in young warlock's lap and leans into him. Percy wraps his arms around him, encompassing him in warmth.

"You're always so warm. Is that a warlock thing?" Nico asks, genuinely curious.

"Yeah, I think so, because warlocks can't get fevers." Percy replies. "You're always so cold. Is that a Shadowhunter thing?"

"No, I don't think so. It's just me. My dad was the same way, except he couldn't feel warmth. He couldn't really feel anything to be honest." Nico says, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"Oh. Okay." Percy says, then they both sit in comfortable silence. After what seems like forever, Percy leans in and pecks Nico on the lips before removing him from his lap and walking to the stairs. "You wanted clothes. You coming?"

Nico stares after him for a second, then gets up and starts walking up the stairs with him. They put on their clothes and then just kind of laid together on the bed for a while. Nico reaches up and touches Percy's face, stroking the soft skin.

"Your face is soft." Nico says.

Percy laughs. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Well, my face isn't very soft. I mean really, feel it." Nico replies, taking Percy's hand and guiding it to his face.

"Feels fine to me." Percy says, shrugging. "A little scarred, but that's to be expected. You _are_ in a lot of fights."

"True." Nico says, pursing his lips.

"I haven't been in very many fights, and I use moisturizer. So my face is probably the softest face you have ever laid hands on." Percy grins.

"Maybe. Girls' faces are like, naturally soft though, so you never know." Nico says, frowning.

"That's true. We could try to touch Piper's face, just to test." Percy says.

"And lose an arm? No thanks!" Nico says incredulously. Percy laughs.

"Okay, okay. Let's change the subject. This has got to be the weirdest conversation I've ever had." Percy says.

"Not for me. I walked in on Annabeth and Piper talking about girl stuff. It was so awkward. I mean they talked about-" Percy covered Nico's mouth.

"If you say another word, I might just die." Percy says seriously.

"Immature much?" Nico says, muffled by Percy's hand.

"Sorry, I just don't like talking about things that don't concern me whatsoever. Like Geography. What's up with that? It's not like I'm gonna be leaving here anytime soon, I'll learn it later, not now!"

"Tell that to Paul."

"Ha ha. I don't think he ever got the memo. Besides, anything he teaches you now will be forgotten eventually. History? You won't remember who the 16th president was. Geometry? The Pythagorean Theorem can wait. Geography? Forget it. You'll never be able to memorize all those capitals." Nico says, grinning.

"And besides, I'll have my new classes to deal with. Demonology, you said? Sounds awesome."

"Yeah. It's actually pretty boring. Chiron just drones on and on about the different demons there are and what they do."

"Oh. Well, what about training? That's gotta be fun, right?"

"Sure, if you like getting knives thrown at you and jumping down from the beams that hold up the ceiling."

"Jeez, Nico. What do _you_ like?"

"Hmm... The History of Shadowhunters, I guess. It's the one thing I can understand." Nico shrugs.

"Oh. Well, history sounds boring. No offense. I think I might like the demon classes better, considering I'm half demon myself." Percy says, wiggling his webbed toes. Nico suddenly felt bad. He'd forgotten for a minute about Percy's warlockness.

"Well, you should learn about them. I mean, it would be pretty cool for you to learn more about the demon part of you." Nico says, smiling at Percy.

"Yeah, I guess. It would be cool to learn more about myself." Percy says, smiling back.

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna call Chiron and ask him what he thinks about it. After all, he is the teacher." Nico says, picking up his phone.

"Okay. Hurry back." Percy says, grabbing Nico's shirt and pulling him down for a kiss. Nico leaves the room and calls Chiron.

Nico is gone for about 5 minutes. When he comes back, his face reveals nothing.

"Percy, I'm so sorry to tell you this, but... Chiron said yes! He said you can start next week." Nico says, finally breaking out into a grin.

"That's awesome! What do I need?" Percy asks.

"Really, all you need is a change of clothes for training, and you may need to move to the Institute." Nico says the last part fast, as if he were afraid of Percy's reaction.

"Move into the Institute? By this _week_? Ah, jeez, Nico. I don't know. What do I tell my mom? 'Oh, mom, I'm gonna go to school with my boyfriend for a while. By the way, I'm also moving in with him! Isn't that great?'" Percy says sarcastically, running his fingers through his hair.

"Sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to stress you out. I thought this was what you wanted." Nico says, wondering what he was more worried about: If Percy said no, or if he said yes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't lash out at you. But I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. I mean... I want to do it, but I don't want to leave my mom and Paul here alone. What's mom gonna do on her days off when Paul's at work? Not to sound selfish or anything, but I am her life." Percy sighs. "I just don't know what to do."

"I'm sorry. I know this is stressful. It was much easier for me, considering I'm a Shadowhunter with no life. And the fact that my dad abandoned my sister and I here when I was like, 6, and my mom died a little while before." Nico says.

"Yeah. Whereas I'm a warlock with a family. And my dad left before I was born. Never met him, don't want to meet him." Percy says.

"Yeah. Well, we can think about this later." Nico says, rubbing his hands together. "In the meantime, let's do something."

"What do you want to do?" Percy asks.

"Do you want me to answer honestly or appropriately?" Nico asks, glancing up at Percy.

"Depends. What's the appropriate answer?" Percy asks, somewhat nervously.

"Watch another movie or play video games." Nico says, walking slowly closer.

"And what's the honest answer?" Percy says, visibly swallowing.

Nico still walks closer. "You remember that thing you did earlier?" Nico reaches Percy, touching his arm. "You know, when you shoved me up against the wall and kissed me?" Nico leans up on his tip-toes, next to Percy's ear. "I think maybe that would be fun to do again."

Percy pushes him down onto the bed and follows him down, catching his mouth in a strong, passionate kiss. He slips his hands underneath Nico's shirt, making him gasp in pleasure. Percy uses this to his advantage and pushes his tongue past his lips. He slides his hands over the younger boy's abdomen, sending warm shivers across Nico's torso.

"God. This is amazing." Nico moans, his eyes rolling back into his head in pleasure. Percy chuckles against his mouth. He moves to his neck, trailing kisses along the way. He licks his neck, kissing and suckling at various places. " _Gahaaaa_..."

Percy chuckles and moves back to Nico's mouth.

"How in the Angel's name are you so good at this?" Nico mumbles in between kisses.

"I don't know. I just am I guess." Percy says, grinning.

"Well. I have news for you." Nico says, leaning next to Percy's ear. "It's my turn." He whispers then flips Percy over so that Nico was straddling Percy. The look on Percy's face was pure surprise, then shifted to amusement. Nico chuckles and whispers, "Do you have _any_ idea what I want to do to you?"

The amused look on Percy's face falls away and turns to slight curiosity. He visibly gulps as Nico leans down to kiss him. He starts out slow and sweet, but his kisses get more fevered as he goes along. He leaves a trail of kisses along Percy's collarbone, then bites down on his shoulder softly, causing him to jump. Nico chuckles, then moves back to the base of his neck, leaving various bite marks and hickeys.

"You aren't so bad at this yourself, di Angelo." Percy says breathily.

"You're not the only one who can seduce people." Nico says with a grin. He kisses Percy once more on the mouth then gets off of him, leaving Percy cold without Nico to warm him.

"Hey, wait, where you going?" Percy says, lifting his head off the pillow to see what Nico was doing.

"I'm just getting my IPod. Chill." Nico says, searching for his IPod.

"Yeah, I'm definitely feeling the chill. Get back over here, I'm cold!" Percy whines.

"Well, after that encounter, I know for a fact that some places were definitely warm." Nico says, winking. Percy blushes.

"You were the same way!" Percy says.

"'Least I'm not embarrassed about it." Nico says, plopping down beside Percy and skimming through the songs on his IPod.

"What will be he tune today, Nico?" Percy asks.

"I think it will be something from All Time Low. What do you think?" Nico asks, looking over at Percy.

"Hmm. I'm thinking Runaways. You have that one, right?" Percy replies.

"Yeah. Good choice." Nico says, then selects it. The music fills the room as Nico puts the volume on the highest it can go. Nico begins humming along with it, making Percy smile. Nico's voice was always Percy favorite thing to hear. Nico would never admit it to himself, but he had a really nice voice. He could get to the highest pitches without his voice breaking, and he did really well on the lower pitches.

The next song played, Missing You by All Time Low. This one, Percy sang along to. Quietly, though, because his voice was definitely not as pretty as Nico's. Nico smiled at him when he got to the chorus.

 _Hold on tight,_

 _This ride is a wild one._

 _Make no mistake,_

 _The day will come when you_

 _Can't cover up what you've done._

 _Don't lose your fight, kid._

 _It only takes a little push to pull on through._

 _With so much left to do,_

 _You'll be missing out,_

 _And we'll be missing you._

"You sound great." Nico grins, knowing he's wrong.

"Ha. Bull. You actually do sound great, though." Percy says, watching Nico roll his eyes.

"I'm not the only one spewing bull shit." Nico says.

"It's not bull shit! You are a great singer. Quit being so modest." Percy says.

"Not being modest, just being honest. There's a difference."

"Yeah, well, I'm being honest too. You sound fantastic when you sing. Like seriously." Percy assures him.

"Whatever you say." Nico sighs.

By the time they've gotten through Nico's All Time Low play list, Percy has fallen asleep with his arm around Nico. Nico starts singing the tune to Edge of Tonight by All Time Low.

 _It's a long way home_

 _When you're on your own,_

 _And your only friends are the traffic lights,_

 _Speaking in Morse code,_

 _Yea, the road is long._

 _And I am tired,_

 _But with you on my horizon,_

 _I will drive until it all breaks down_

' _Cause I can't breathe without you near,_

 _You keep me safe,_

 _You keep me sane,_

 _You keep me honest,_

 _You keep me alive,_

 _On the Edge of Tonight,_

 _Chasing tomorrow,_

 _With fire in my eyes, (Yea)_

 _You're like a siren in the dark,_

 _You're the beat playing in my heart,_

 _You keep me alive, on the Edge of Tonight._

While Nico sings, Percy smiles in his sleep, as if he can hear him singing. Nico kisses Percy's forehead and snuggles into his side, encompassing him in warmth. Nico smiles and turns his IPod off. He closes his eyes and falls asleep.

Nico's dreams were very dark, and often they turned into nightmares. He dreamt that he was in a dark alley. Percy was there and Bianca. Nico had seen this nightmare many times, though it never ceased to scare him witless. It was of the night Bianca died. Percy was screaming, begging Bianca not to die, and Bianca was motionless as a corpse. By then, she probably _was_ a corpse. Percy tried his hardest to heal her, but to no avail. She died in that alley, her eyes glassy and lifeless…

"Bianca!" Nico jerked awake screaming. Percy woke up to find Nico sobbing and saying Bianca's name repeatedly.

"Nico! Nico, it's okay. It's okay, no more nightmares. You're awake now, it's okay." Percy attempted to comfort his boyfriend, unsuccessfully. Nico continued to sob throughout Percy's attempts. Eventually he calmed down enough to where Percy could hug him and help him calm down. "Shh. It's okay. No more bad dreams. The nightmares are gone. Shh…" Percy cooed, stroking Nico's hair. Nico hiccupped every now and then. He soon fell back asleep, curled into Percy's side as Percy held him as close as possible. Percy watched him sleep, his face relaxed and calm. All the lines from stress and anguish were wiped away from his face. Percy had the opportunity to realize how truly beautiful Nico was, even if his face was tearstained. Percy traced the lines of Nico's face, his eyebrows, his mouth… His lips were soft, supple, and slightly chapped. Percy hadn't realized until then that Nico's nose was slightly crooked, as if it had been broken. _That's Nico for you_. Percy thought to himself. _Always getting into fights._

Percy also noticed that Nico had a very faint smatter of freckles across his nose. Percy smiled, touching the line of freckles. They gave Nico a slight boyish quality. At that moment, Nico grumbled in his sleep and rubbed his nose, turning his body so it faced Percy rather than away. Percy chuckled and put his arms around Nico. He kissed the bridge of Nico's nose, where his freckles were the most noticeable. He tucked Nico's head under his chin and rubbed his back. Eventually, Percy fell asleep, still smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Shadow Land Pt.3**_

"Boys. Wake up. C'mon, that's it. Dinner's ready." Mrs. Jackson told them with a smile.

Nico tried to get up, only to find that he was-once again-pinned underneath his supposedly loving boyfriend.

"Not this again." Nico sighed. "Percy. Wake up. Percy. _Get up_. You're smothering me." Nico says, trying to pull himself out from underneath him. Percy's grip seems to get tighter though, so he only ends up getting himself even more stuck. "Percy. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

"I'm still tired though…" Percy whines into Nico's ear.

"But food." Nico says.

"Sleep."

"But…Food."

" _Sleeeep_."

" _Foooood_."

"Food can wait."

"No it can't. I will seriously hurt you if you don't get off me."

"No you won't. You love me too much."

"I love food too. _Get off."_

"No."

"Perseus Jackson, if you do not get off of me, I will seriously hurt you. And I promise you, it _will_ hurt."

"I don't believe you."

"Suit yourself." Nico takes Percy's hands and pins them up above his head and then he kicks him in the stomach. He falls off the bed with a painful _thump_.

"Dang. That's cold." Percy huffs, attempting to get up. He fails. "A little help?"

"Nope." Nico says, popping the 'p'.

"Aww c'mon! Haven't I been punished enough?" Percy wheezes.

"It's your fault for not listening." Nico says, walking out of Percy's bedroom.

"Don't leave me!" Percy whines. Nico sticks his hand inside the door and flips him off then continues down the hall to the kitchen. "You suck!" 

"I do believe that would be your job!" Nico yells back at him. Percy throws a shoe that hits Nico square in the back of the neck. Nico throws it back with a lot more force and hits the wall beside Percy's head, making him squeal. "Don't mess with an expert knife thrower; it won't be in favor of your health."

"What was that all about?" Mrs. Jackson asks.

"Oh, nothing. Percy was keeping me from food. You'd think he would've learned his lesson by now."

"Oh dear. You didn't hurt him too bad, did you?" Mrs. Jackson asks.

"No, not too bad. He'll be here in a minute." Nico grins. At that moment, Percy walks into the room looking miserable. "I did warn you."

"It still hurt." He replies, rubbing his stomach where Nico kicked him.

"Oh, you poor baby." Nico says in mock sympathy.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Percy asks, frowning and sticking out his bottom lip.

"It's in my job description." Nico grins, sticking is tongue out at him.

"Alright you two, that's enough. Eat up." Mrs. Jackson says, putting a plate of spaghetti in front of both of them. Nico picks up his fork and starts eating while Percy watches in fascination. Nico looks over and does a double take.

"Is there something on my face?" He asks. Percy grins.

"No. I just like watching you." Percy says.

"I'd say that's creepy, but I am too, so…" Nico shrugs and continues eating while Percy chuckles and remembers his own plate of food. He starts eating, occasionally glancing at Nico.

When they finish eating, they go back to Percy's room to watch TV.

"So earlier, um, you had a nightmare." Percy states. Nico stiffens beside him.

"Yeah. What about it?" He asks.

"Well, I just want you to know that if you need to talk about it, I'm here. I have nightmares too." Percy says.

"I-I know. It's just hard to talk about." Nico says. After a short pause, Percy speaks.

"It was about Bianca, wasn't it?" Percy asks quietly. Nico nods. "I dream about that night a lot too." Percy says.

"I figure it's harder for you, because you were actually there. You witnessed it. You tried to keep her alive, but…" Nico trails off, then sniffles. Percy looks over in alarm, realizing that Nico was weeping.

"I try not to think about it, and if I do, I tell myself there was nothing I could do. I tried, but it wasn't enough. After it happened, I kept telling myself it wasn't my fault. But then when I told you about it, it killed me to see you so heartbroken. I promised you I'd keep her safe, and she died." Percy tells him, wiping the tears that had begun to make their way down his face.

"But it wasn't your fault. It was the stupid demon. Even the strongest Shadowhunters can't defend against a Drevak demon. You did nothing wrong." Nico says, pushing Percy's hands away.

"You don't understand. I let her go. The demon was attacking some mundane and she wanted to save her. I told her not to, that it was dangerous, but she didn't listen. She went anyways, and I let her. I _let her kill herself_. I might as well have killed her myself." Percy says, pushing the subject as if he _wanted_ Nico to hate him.

"It was her decision, not yours. You didn't kill her, the demon did. Stop beating yourself up, it was _not_ your fault." Nico says, grabbing Percy's shoulders to keep him from turning away. As Percy gazed at Nico's determined tearstained face, he wondered how Nico could even look at him, much less be his boyfriend. Percy's face crumbled and he broke down, putting his head on Nico's shoulder.

"I don't deserve you. You should hate me, not the other way around." Percy sobs.

"Shh. Don't say that. I love you, don't you ever forget it." Nico says, lifting Percy's face so he can say it to his face. As he said it, he realized it was true. He loved this boy, with all of his being.

"You really mean it?" Percy asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do." Nico says, letting more tears fall, except these were tears of happiness. Percy leans in and captures Nico's mouth with his own and pushes him back on the bed softly. He puts one hand behind Nico's neck and the other on the bed beside him to hold him up.

He wipes away a stray tear as Nico stares up at him. Nico reaches up to touch his face. Percy closes his eyes and feels him trace his face as he did to him earlier. Nico's hand moves to his collarbone, then to the contours of his chest. When Nico's hand returns to his side, Percy leans down and kisses him softly, lovingly. Nico puts his arms around Percy's neck and deepens the kiss.

Percy's hands move to Nico's hips, playing with the fabric of his shirt. Their tongues tangle, dancing hotly. Nico moans softly as Percy's hands move up and down Nico's sides. Percy eventually removes Nico's shirt, delighting in the fact that Nico doesn't care. Percy's shirt is soon discarded as well, thrown somewhere in his room.

Nico moans louder when Percy bits down on his lower lip, sucking on it.

"W-wait." Nico says, pushing Percy back lightly.

"I'm going too far aren't I?" Percy asks, blushing lightly.

"A little bit." Nico says quietly, holding up his fingers an inch apart. Percy sighs, then hangs his head on Nico's shoulder.

"I'm sorry. Sometimes I just get so caught up in the moment, I just…" Percy says, looking up.

"Forget?" Nico asks softly. Percy nods. Nico gives a small smile. "That's okay, I did too."

"This is hard." Percy grumbles.

"I know, I can feel it. It's quite awkward actually." Nico retorts. Percy pokes him in the stomach, making him flinch.

"You know that's not what I meant." Percy smiles at the joke.

"Yeah, but… Opportunities must be taken advantage of." Nico grins. Percy nods.

"Of course. I wouldn't want you to miss out on an opportunity to be funny, would I? And I doubt you'd like it if I missed out on my opportunity to do this!" Percy says, then starts poking Nico's sides, making him cry out.

"AHAHA STOP IT! AHAHAHAHAHAAA I'M SERIOUS STAHP AHAAHA!" Nico squeals, attempting to move his legs, but to no avail, as they are-once again-pinned underneath Percy. Percy's domination is short-lived however, as Nico is actually quite strong and pushes Percy backwards onto the floor, where he tackles him and begins to tickle him.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?" Nico yells, with a maniacal grin on his face.

"I'm HAHAHA not sure AHAHA NOT THERE If I like you like this yet AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA WHY DO YOU KEEP GOING THERE?" Percy screams. Nico continues poking him until he ends up being hit in the face by Percy's flailing arms. He stops for a moment, then smiles down at his blushing boyfriend.

"Gonna have to try harder than that to get me to stop." Nico grinned, then made to poke him again. However, Percy was prepared this time, and he intercepted Nico's hands with his own, then flipped him onto his back, so that Percy was straddling Nico.

"Oh? You mean like this?" Percy asked innocently, leaning down to suckle at Nico's neck. Nico gasps, enjoying the pleasure coursing around his neck.

"How are you doing that?" Nico breathes. His hands were pinned above his head, but Percy's hands weren't holding them; Nico supposed it was magic. But that wasn't what Nico was referring to.

"Doing what?" Percy asks, continuing his actions. Nico whimpered.

"It feels… Really good." Nico whispers, having a hard time talking. Percy chuckles against Nico's throat, causing him to shiver.

"You said my healing feels good, so I thought I'd try it. I guess it worked, judging by your breathing." Percy says, continuing to nip at the base of Nico's neck. Nico's breathing had become more labored, and he was now whimpering every few seconds.

"Heh. You're really good at this." Nico said, feeling inadequate. How was he supposed to please Percy, if Percy was always pleasing him?

"I swear to you, I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just… Exploring. Really, this is all new to me." Percy mumbles, moving his lips down Nico's neck.

"I-I believe you, but… B-by the Angel, Perseus. Don't stop." Nico moans, arching his back as Percy's mouth comes into contact with his chest, his healing ministrations doing wonders to Nico's body. He knew he should ask him to stop, but it felt… so… good…

"P-Percy…. We need to stop…" Nico whines, weakly pushing against Percy's chest. Percy's movements become slower, not stopping completely. He pulls away from Nico's chest, gazing down at him with wide pupils. He paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Y-yeah. Okay." Percy flopped down onto the bed, beside Nico. His breathing was slightly labored, and his face was flushed. Nico lifted his hand to feel his forehead, noting that his temperature was very warm.

"You shouldn't use up all your energy to make me happy." Nico says, moving his hand from his forehead to his cheek.

"I can't make any promises, Angel." Percy smiled softly at Nico. Nico blushed at the new nickname Percy had given him. Angel. He liked it.

"You need to get some sleep. You work too hard for me." Nico smiled and kissed his nose, causing him to blush softly. Then he yawned and nodded.

"Okay. Sleep doesn't sound that bad right now. You're not going anywhere, right?" Percy scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Nope. I'm staying right here." Nico smiled.

"Okay. Good." Then he yawned again, and settled himself behind Nico, spooning. Percy feel asleep softly, while Nico had time to wind down himself. 

Alright, so I changed my mind (again) on the whole editing thing, so I'm just gonna keep it how it is. Also, please don't be upset with me for not updating. I had like, zero inspiration. I still have zero inspiration. Which is why all the chapters end with them sleeping, because I suck at writing, and the Pernico fandom died a while ago, since Solangelo came along. (Yes, I said it. *Sticks tongue out at Pernico fans*) I will not spoil anything for those of you who have not read Trials of Apollo yet, but it was so great. You're gonna want to laugh, cry, and kill Uncle Rick all at once! But yeah, here's chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed! If not, then tough, because I really, really don't want to have to rewrite this chapter. AGAIN. (I had to edit a lot in this one, so it feels like I've writing it over a million times. BLAH.) Anyways, thanks for reading you guys!

P.S. This might just get put on an infinite Hiatus, because I have NO INSPIRATION. I blame Solangelo. I have all the inspiration for Solangelo, and none for Pernico. Oh well. Sorry.

P.P.S. Forgot you could let people adopt your fan fictions. If you'd like to adopt this crappy fan fiction, then please tell me! Thanks.


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